Snapshots of an Adventure
by Cardboard Tube Knight
Summary: There are those moments in an adventure that stand out, the snapshots of the friendships, the losses, the laughter and the adventure. This is just a simple group of shot stories taken from a campaign I played in and DMed. R
1. After the Rats

**Author's Note: **_This is actually taken from a forum role play and retold here almost as it happened. The names of some things have been changed either for effect or just because I forgot them and how they worked. Enjoy._

The basement floor of _Silver Stein_ _Tavern _was covered with the scorched bodies of rats and their droppings. The adventurers grabbed the mops they were issued by one of the barmaids and began the clean up job. Dee lit a cigarette, partly to calm herself—but also to combat the horrid odor of burnt flesh. She grimaced as she raked at the floor to pry _something_ up, she couldn't tell if it was a rat or poop.

"It smells even worse in here since we killed them…me throwing up in the middle of the fight didn't help," Dee said.

"Well whose fault is that," Lyn grimaced as mopped the corner near the stairs.

Dee let out a grunt of disgust. She could still feel the rats waxy little feet scratching and clawing at her as she moved the broom over their corpses. "My life didn't used to be this complicated…before I met you lot. Drinking…sex…gambling…the odd job or two…nowhere in all that did I have to battle a basement full of pissed off rats and an enraged Barbarian…"

There was a lull filled only with the sounds of brooms brushing across the stone floor and mops slopping water down onto rocks.

"I need a bloody drink," Dee moaned.

Arjun tried to keep his head down and he fought the urge to make eye contact with Dee as he cleaned nearby her. Still it was hard not to glance at her as she passed near him with her broom in hand, swatting the floor angrily—_she wasn't even doing it right_. He lowered his gaze and then he noticed it, she was a little wet and her breasts were sticking up through the top of her bustier. He thought if there were anymore tension they might just burst free, he snickered to himself just as he realized how long his eyes had been locked on her chest.

"Oi! What're you looking at, you limey sod?" Dee slung her broom down onto the floor as she stormed toward Arjun. "If you really wanted to see so bad—all you had to do was ask!" she grabbed Arjun by the back of the head and before he could fight, she pressed his head into her cleavage, grinding her down against the bear skin. With that she turned and walked back to her broom.

The shocked expression took several moments to fully form on Arjun's face. He slowly retrieved his mop and quietly pretended nothing had happened.

Luemus couldn't let it go, a dark smile appeared on his soft elvan features. "Ahem, well that was unexpected…" he said. He stood leaning on a mop and summoning water onto the floors with magic to get the job done.

"Don't start with me, Luemus…" Dee chided him. She brushed a dark brown tendril of hair away from her face. "When this is over I'm taking the longest bath ever…"

"Why wait," Luemus said as he pointed a finger to a spot in the air just above Dee and several gallons of water poured out of the air in a torrent and washed down over her, soaking her thoroughly.

Letting the cigarette fall from her mouth, Dee pulled her hair away from her shoulder ringing it out. She shook her arms dry and sighed. "Just be honest—you wanted a chance to get me wet," she glanced down over her body. "Well, this isn't the worst thing I've been covered in."

"Slip of the finger," Luemus said. "Opps," he added.

Arjun cracked a smile and Dee glared at him, but before she could say anything Lyn burst out laughing and Elena fell in line too. Dropping their brooms they fell back against the wall chuckling. Slowly, a smile spread over Dee's lips and she was doubled over laughing too.

In the fit of laughter Lyn found something that made the cleaning worthwhile, in a chest near the corner, someone had left a hefty sum of gold. Sure they still had to clean up rat droppings and bodies…but the laughter and gold made for a nice prize.


	2. The Black Rider's Standard

In the field to the west he appeared, clad in glistening black armor that seemed to burn in the resonate sunlight. His stead had a mane of flames and eyes that burned just as bright. He rode into the valley below the fort with a flag and standard raised over head.

He rode along the perimeter of the protected lands, striding past as if to showcase himself and he slid to a stop and lifted his visor, his face was shrouded in shadow. "You have slain my masters advancing Goblin horde and denied him the bodies for his undead army—for those feats I congratulate you," his voice was all bass, booming out each syllable. "However, this outpost shall fall and come under Dis's hand. This city is going to fall and Dis shall rule it, treasure, knowledge and all. Struggle as much as you wish, in the end you will either perish and join the undead ranks or bow down to call Dis Lord and Master. None will be able to escape his grasp."

The pole of the flag burrowed into the ground with a thud that reverberated around up to the ramparts, on the banner a black skull is depicted being pierced by white lightning. The horse reared up, its powerful body digging into the ground slightly before the rider turned to head West.

Arjun stood near the window at the front of the fort shuddering in fear, his hands trembling as he watched the black rider crest the hill. "What do we do now?" asked Arjun glancing back.

"We need to actually act. It's time we get off the defensive—we've broken one of their lines and demolished the other…" Dee started.

Madeleine rubbed her slender hand over her eyes. "You've lost your mind, we lost so many already," despite never having lived among the Elves, they were half of her lineage and in some ways this was her motherland, these were her people—she didn't come out here to feed them to Dis.

"We have a huge problem, that was no regular rider…it was some kind of evil knight. And his horse had flames for a mane and around its feet…" Elena said.

"…blah, Knight with a flaming what?" Sebastian, the Cleric had awakened amidst the clamor of all that was going on in the fort.

Arjun piped up. "A black knight with a flaming hoofed horse" he repeated for Sebastian. "It came pretty close from here and was sent by Dis... Basically he brought us a message of how dismal our situation is and how we will be destroyed. He also left a flag outside of the outpost..." he was cut off by the Cleric again.

"Sounds like a Blackguard, or a Paladin from the depths of Baator, given strength by hellfire itself—in truth, a dangerous foe. Your concern is well placed," he grimaced as he shuffled for the door. Slowly he made his way down the hill, yawning as he neared the flag. "This flag is definitely ebbing with evil," Sebastian said loud, but still sounding tired.

"Looks like a regular flag to me," Madeleine said peering down the hill.

"Bah, Maddy—I doubt a man riding a magic fire horse would put down regular flags all over the place," Dee said.

Heave footsteps coming down the hall alerted them to Orseth the Barbarian's approach. The Elvan defenders parted, murmuring and fearful as he cut through the crowd toward the others. "That thing seemed strong—I'd die if I fought it," he said, more a statement of fact than a guess. "But it's probably got two strength sources, itself and Dis—if we cut it off from that we can probably kill it."

"Brilliant," Maddy said. "Now all we have to do," the sarcasm in her tone became more apparent, "is kill a god…"

Silence fell over the base as Sebastian reached the flag, he paused to study it, wincing against the energy pouring from it. He reached out to grab the standard and was thrown back to the ground roughly. He slid to a stop on the dusty earth—now he was awake. His eyes widened as he picked himself up. "Dis? A god? Hah!" he laughed gruffly as he wiped the dirt from his face.

Sebastian went into his pack and plucked out a peasants shirt and wrapped it around the base of the flag pole. Careful to grab only the cloth he wrenched the standard from the dirt. "This is a blessing if I've ever seen one," Sebastian said.

"Why are you touching that again?" Dee yelled.

Moving his hands further apart, Sebastian looked at the standard while keeping the shirt between his hands and the actual pole. He looked back up to the camp and announced in a bellowing voice. "Do not let the events of this morning trouble you—this is the power of his _god_," he waited a moment, uttered a prayer under his breath and then brought the standard down over his knee, splintering it on contact.

"Now has anyone seen a midden heap?" the Cleric bellowed as he walked toward the fort and flung the flag atop one of the pyres meant for the bodies the enemy army's dead.


	3. Is It Trap?

**Is It A Trap?**

The blonde elf lay sprawled out in the center of a clearing encircled by and odd assortment of stones. It was hard to discern exactly what happened at a distance but as the party began to close the gap between themselves and the mysterious elf, Madeleine lifted her bow and trained it on the lifeless form.

Every few steps she checked the trees for any signs of movement. She swallowed hard and steadied her aim on the elf. The party had moved forward in silence until Elena called out in a worried tone. "Are you okay?" she hollered.

There was no answer.

Madeleine cautioned her. "Careful, this could be a trap…" she said.

Suddenly Arjun slapped Madeleine's bow down, aiming it away from the elf. "What's wrong with you? Can't you tell that this woman is obviously hurt and in need of our help?" he asked angrily.

He jogged over to the elf leaving Madeleine standing there, fuming. She narrowed his eyes him and stomped across the clearing, the others parting to leave her a path. "I don't plan on falling prey to any traps. It's called being cautious, you git." Madeleine slung the repeating crossbow up against her shoulder, despite its size and it somehow made her seem taller. "And I'll tell you another thing, touch this bow again whilst I am aiming and you'll be wearing that arrow…you could have caused me to shoot her with that stunt just then!"


End file.
